Today, there exists communication systems which combine the capabilities of a number of devices which originally were developed to be used separately. For example, some communication systems link voicemail systems with communication pagers.
Marrying such systems together provides advantages. For example, instead of calling into a voicemail system in order to check on whether or not any messages have been left, a user equipped with a communications pager can be notified via a xe2x80x9cpagexe2x80x9d that she has voicemail messages and at the same time receive information, e.g., a telephone number, about the source of the voicemail message. With the introduction of two-way, digital communication pagers this notification may occur within seconds after a voicemail message has been left with a remote, voicemail system. Once a page is received it may then be stored in memory within a pager for later reference.
Many times the words xe2x80x9cnotificationxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cnotifyxe2x80x9d have dual meanings within the context of paging systems. These words mean both a physical and visual notification. A received page (e.g., electronic page, not a physical page of paper) notifies a user of a pager that she has a new voicemail by both displaying information on a visual display and by physically outputting an audio tone or causing the pager to vibrate, for example.
As people have begun to routinely use these combinations of devices, some drawbacks have come to the forefront.
For example, sometime after a user is informed via a page that she has a voicemail message she will call in via a telephone or computer of some kind and obtain her voicemail messages. Typically, once she has listened to a message the voicemail system will give her the choice of saving or deleting a voicemail message. Suppose for the sake of our example, she chooses to delete the message from the voicemail system. Sometime later she again checks her pager and discovers that it contains a total list of pages, some of which have already been responded to and even deleted. Unfortunately, she cannot remember which pages she has already listened to and which ones still remain to be reviewed. Worse yet, she has forgotten to manually delete from her pager those messages she has already deleted from her voicemail system. Frustration and confusion from such a scenario detracts from the overall xe2x80x9cuser friendlyxe2x80x9d operation of such systems.
Other times an originator of a voicemail may forget to leave his telephone number as a part of his voicemail message. In these instances it may be impossible to timely respond to such a message no matter how fast a page is received.
Still other times it may be desirable to receive pages without a physical notification.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide improvements to systems which have voicemail and/or paging capability.
Another object of the present invention is to provide for the xe2x80x9cautomaticxe2x80x9d deletion of a page stored in a pager through the transmission and reception of a unique, deletion page.
It is another object of the present invention to provide for the automatic deletion of a page stored in a pager where a deletion page is transmitted and then received by the pager at substantially the same time as a corresponding voice mail message in a voicemail system is deleted.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide for another unique deletion page or a digital voicemail page comprising a data field which restricts physical notification that the deletion page or voice mail page has in fact been received.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide for the transmission of still another unique voice mail page to a pager at substantially the same time as a user of the pager listens to a corresponding voicemail message in a voicemail system, where the voicemail page comprises ANI data identifying at least the telephone number of the originator of the voicemail message.
Other objectives, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
In accordance with the present invention there provided novel devices and methods for overcoming the frustration and confusion which may result from using existing systems which combine voicemail and paging systems.
Specifically, the present invention envisions the transmission and subsequent reception of unique voicemail pages. For instance, one embodiment envisions transmission of a xe2x80x9cdeletionxe2x80x9d page for automatically deleting a previously sent voicemail page stored in a pager at substantially the same time as a voicemail message is deleted in a separate voicemail system. Even more specifically, the present invention envisions a communications system which comprises a voicemail unit for transmitting a digital deletion page; a pager for receiving the deletion page, the pager further comprising a control unit for deleting a first voicemail page upon reception of the deletion page. The voicemail unit may be further adapted to transmit a deletion page substantially at the same time as a corresponding voice mail message is deleted and the pager may further be adapted to receive a deletion page substantially at the same time as a corresponding voice mail message is deleted.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention there is provided a communications system comprising a voicemail unit, where the voicemail unit is adapted to transmit a second voicemail page comprising a data field to a pager which restricts notification by the pager that the voicemail page has been received.
In accordance with still another aspect of the present invention there is provided a communications system comprising a voicemail unit, where the voicemail unit is adapted to transmit a third voicemail page, generated at substantially the same time as a user listens to a corresponding voicemail message, to a pager and the pager is adapted to receive the third voice mail page at substantially the same time as well.
In accordance with yet another embodiment of the invention, there are provided methods for realizing the features and advantages offered by the present invention.
The present invention and its advantages can be best understood with reference to the drawings, detailed description of the preferred embodiments and claims that follow.